Administrative liability in the customs sphere: jurisdictional conflicts and ensuring access to justice

The article is devoted to the study of problems of administrative liability in the customs sphere through the prism of jurisdictional conflicts between the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offences and the Customs Code of Ukraine, as well as their impact on the implementation of the constitutional right to access to justice. The author analyses the regulatory and legal basis for administrative liability for customs violations and describes the key contradictions that arise in the process of law enforcement. Particular attention is paid to the issues of delimitation of the competence of customs authorities and courts, determination of the boundaries between administrative and criminal liability, differences in the terms of bringing to justice and the application of procedural guarantees enshrined in the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offences and the Customs Code of Ukraine. The article analyses judicial practice, which demonstrates the ambiguity of approaches to the application of general and special rules, which affects legal certainty and equality of persons before the law. The issue of applying confiscation as an administrative penalty, including in relation to property that does not belong to the offender, has been examined, requiring assessment from the perspective of the principle of proportionality and international standards for the protection of property rights. The need to ensure the independence and impartiality of the body considering the case is emphasised, since the administrative procedure for considering customs violations within the customs authority potentially contradicts the requirements of Article 6 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. In the context of European standards, an assessment is provided of the effectiveness of national mechanisms for judicial and administrative appeal against decisions of customs authorities. The scientific novelty of the article lies in a comprehensive analysis of systemic jurisdictional conflicts that complicate the exercise of the right to judicial protection and in substantiating the need to harmonise special and general rules of administrative liability. A number of practical recommendations for improving legislation have been formulated: clear definition of the competence of authorities, unification of the terms of bringing to justice, correction of rules on confiscation, strengthening of judicial control and generalisation of judicial practice at the level of the Supreme Court. The implementation of these proposals will contribute to the establishment of the rule of law, increased legal certainty and accessibility of justice in cases of customs violations.